There are so many feelings as I write this blog post. First, it’s been 4 years since I wrote an end of a year blog post.  As I think about 2020 I also think about this time last year. In December 2019 I was so excited about 2020, I had 20 weddings booked, I was prepping for the Seattle Wedding Show for the first time and I finally felt like my business was on track as I had already pasted the 5 year mark of being a full-time wedding photographer.

Instead of thinking of all the negatives and disappointments, 2020 brought I am going to talk about the positives, the changes, and all the good things that happened to Jenny Storment Photography this year. We all can agree 2020 was pretty much a dumpster fire of a year. With so much negativity in the world, I want this little corner of the internet to be a happy and bright spot.

My job is to document the happiest days in a couple’s life so I wanted to make sure I highlight all the happy moments that I captured through my camera this year along with giving you all a little update on what 2020 entailed for me. Let’s start with the stats:

Wedding & Elopements Documented: 26 (My goal for this year pre-covid was 30+ so not bad)
Portrait & Engagement Sessions: 30
Photos Taken: 35,000+ yea I know I take way too many photos haha!
Blog post: I wrote 30 posts most of them being written in the last 6 weeks of the year. To date, I am caught up on all my weddings and elopements I wanted to get done before the end of the year. I still have some engagement sessions to blog but I am waiting till their weddings actually happen.
Miles Traveled: 10,000
Cameras Purchased: 4 (don’t worry I will explain what happened)

January: It was such an exciting month I was doing the Seattle Wedding Show for the first time and had high hopes for booking lots of couples during the show. I didn’t book anything weddings after the show but I did make some new connections with other wedding vendors in the area.

February: I documented my 8th wedding at Thornewood Castle and did an anniversary session on Leap Day.

March: Before covid hit us and shut everything down I documented a wedding and engagement session in Tacoma.

April-May: We were shut down and not allowed to work which was very depressing and I didn’t get any work done as I had no motivation at all. I did a ton of puzzles which helped deal with my anxiety during the shutdown.

June: Finally in June when the numbers started to go down we were able to start working again which was amazing! I did 2 small elopements, 2 engagement sessions and Mia turned 6! Since her first birthday, I always take photos of her a few days leading up to her birthday. Before covid, I had planned on purchasing new cameras as mine were 5 years old and I was due for new camera bodies. I had originally planned to wait for Canon to release its new mirrorless cameras but when they had a sale on the Canon 5D Mark 4 (the newer version of my camera) I jumped at the chance for some new gear going into my wedding season.

July: Before Covid, July was going to be one of my busiest months of 2020 but thankfully I still had things that didn’t get rescheduled to 2021. I did one beautiful engagement session on the Bainbridge Island Ferry, a micro wedding at Laurel Creek Manor, a small elopement at Point Defiance Rose Garden, and a backyard wedding in Oregon. Mia and I also got mother and daughter portraits done by the amazing Andria Lindquist.

August: This month is always my busiest month so even in a pandemic I still did 11 weddings & elopements and 2 sessions! I started the month off with a Harry Potter-themed wedding, went up to Mount Rainier 3 times, I even went up to the North Cascades for an epic elopement! I also got to document my first wedding a The Kelley Farm which has been on my bucket list for a while now! August was such a wonderful month I was so happy working even though there were stresses about covid restrictions, it was still wonderful to be working again full time!

September: September started off with a beautiful wedding at Mount Rainier which I think is my new favorite wedding I have done on the mountain. Following that, I had a stunning backyard wedding on Lake Tapps! Pat and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary in one of our favorite places and we dealt with some nasty smoke from wildfires that were happening in California, Oregon, and Washington.  I documented my 9th wedding at Thornewood Castle and headed up to Mount Rainier for the last time in 2020 for a beautiful engagement session! This month also brought me to buy the first of my Canon R6. In August Canon released its new mirrorless cameras and one of them was the R6. Not to go into too many nerdy details but mirrorless cameras are going to be the future as their focusing systems are much more superior to their DSLR cousins. This camera can be silent and has unlimited focus points which gives me so much more freedom while I am shooting. My breaking point with the DSLR and especially the Canon 5D mark 4 was the focusing. I kept having focus issues and when your job is to document once in a lifetime moments you can’t be missing shots because of your equipment.

October: October brought another gorgeous wedding at The Kelley farm, a rainy waterfall elopement at Franklin falls, an engagement session at Franklin Falls, a fall family session, and an autumn first wedding anniversary session at Wright Park. I also documented a 75th wedding anniversary party which was so amazing to see a couple that had been together that long!  And I purchased my 2nd Canon R6 camera making me completely mirrorless! Something very exciting happened this month as well. I won (I never win contests so this was a complete shock to me) an all-expense-paid mentorship vacation in 2021 with Ang McCabe who runs Myrtle and Moss Photography out of Vancouver Island, BC Canada. I have admired her for many years, the way she captures the emotion and how she poses her clients is something I strive for in my work! I am so excited to learn from her and to have a styled shoot in 2021 whenever covid allows the border to reopen between Canada and the US.

November: November was full of holiday mini sessions at Bayview Christmas Tree farm, 3 engagement sessions for my 2021 couples, and an intimate wedding at the Ruston Chapel here in Tacoma. And with the help from Tonic Shop and Copy Uncorked, I finally finished my new website and launched it a week before Thanksgiving! I am so happy with the final results and it really looks beautiful on both a computer and phone. This has been something I have wanted for a long time to invest in a website that looks like this and I am so happy I could 6 years after going full time.

December: This final month of 2020 was not so busy with only 2 family sessions and a last-minute elopement but I was busy here on the blog. I had slack so much in 2019 and for most of 2020 so I really wanted to get back on track with my blogging as it is one of the reasons I am on the first page of google for Tacoma and how many of my future couples find me on there. One of my goals for 2021 is to get back on track with blogging most if not all my jobs and to do it in a timely manner and not in the 12th month of the year. I am so happy that as I write this blog I am caught up on all 2020 weddings and elopements and also caught up with all my editing as well! This holiday season I plan to do lots of puzzles, watch tons of movies and eat & drink to my heart’s content.

Normally in December, I write out my goals for the next year but with everything so much in the air with Covid I just don’t feel confident enough to make a giant list of goals for my business. Currently, I have 22 weddings and elopements on the calendar for next year. Half of those are rescheduled from 2020 but I hope to book up my fall with couples who are getting engaged this holiday season! I do plan to spend this offseason taking advantage of some photography and business classes I purchased this year. I hope to grow even more with my lighting, posing, and business practices. I am always trying to strive to be better especially with my lighting and posing.

So here are my goals for 2021:

1. Book at least 10 more weddings & elopements for 2021
2. Start booking for 2022
3. Get my posing rock solid
4. Lighting, I know I can do better with lighting my clients and during receptions.
5. Work on the business side of the business and I hope to achieve that with my KJ Business Collection I plan to start in January.
6. Turn the business into an LLC.
7. Figure out how to blog my weddings and elopements closer to when I document them or delivering the final gallery to the clients and not get burned out at the same time.
8. Getting my work-life balance in check.

I am sure I will have more goals as I get into 2021 but personally, I don’t feel comfortable making more as so much is out of our hand with this virus. All I can hope is these vaccines will work and life can get back to how it was before covid!

Happy New year from The Storment’s!!!